"The call came into VECC that there was a wall collapse at the end of (a) road. And when it came in and the fact that the 911 operator got the call (in Salt Lake County), they sent crews to the top of the mountain. The accident happened down on the Lehi side," Scott said.

The Fort Union crew traveled south on I-15 toward Utah County and waited for instructions on whether it was really needed on scene, Scott said.

After crews on the mountain couldn't find the man, they instructed the Fort Union crew to exit the freeway in Alpine and drive to Traverse Mountain, just in case the caller misidentified the location of the accident, Scott said.

The Fort Union crew made contact with a Lehi Fire Department captain, who told them a Lehi crew was on scene. The Fort Union crew continued to the site and prepared for the arrival of a medical helicopter. The man was airlifted to a hospital because he complained of numbness and tingling in his legs, neck and back. He was listed in critical condition when he left the scene. Doctors were planning to examine him for internal injuries, fire officials said.

Fire officials believe the incident was handled well, considering the communication problems.

"There was no delay in response time. It's all the call-maker," Scott said.

Lehi fire officials agreed, noting the similarity in names — Traverse Ridge and Traverse Mountain — was probably a factor. They believe the cell phone caller was a construction worker from outside the area and unaware Traverse Ridge and Traverse Mountain referred to separate areas, Evans said.

Last week, the Provo Police Department held a press briefing to outline protocol changes in the way dispatchers will handle cell phone 911 calls in the future. The change was prompted by the death of Scott Aston, who was found dead four days after making a 911 call seeking emergency medical assistance.

A dispatcher confused the numbers in the address given by Aston. Because cell phone calls do not automatically register an address for the source of the call, the numeral confusion prevented medical crews from making contact with Aston. His body was discovered when a relative contacted police and asked them to enter Aston's locked apartment after he had not been heard from for several days.

---

E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com